Puppet Master
by Sulky Shadow
Summary: All his life he had been told what to do; no action had had any original thought behind it. He had fixed everything he could. Now all that was left was to cut the strings.


**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts. All characters go to their respectful owners. I only own this story.

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><p><strong>Puppet Master<strong>

It was time to end this. He had finally learned the truth about himself, and he wanted to make it a lie.

He refused to be someone else's puppet. They had made him do things he was not proud of. Sora had been nice enough to forgive him, but it wasn't just Sora. Marluxia had been destroyed, as well—the man behind the idea.

But it wasn't enough. He wasn't modeled after Marluxia; he was modeled after Riku. He was a replica of Riku. And it was this Riku that had been pulling his strings all along. If Riku hadn't been friends with Sora, the Organization would have never had his replica attack the Key barer.

But the Organization should have known better than to try to get someone from the Light to join the Darkness. From what he had heard, they had already obtained his Nobody. Why they couldn't use that boy was beyond him.

That didn't matter, though, because it would never happen now. Sora was safe. Riku, on the other hand, needed to be dealt with.

So he went out in search of his 'master'. The one who had predetermined what his replica's fate would be.

Luckily, Riku wasn't too hard to find. You never had to look to far to find yourself, right? Riku was right where he knew he'd be—at the mansion.

At first, Riku looked surprised to see his mirror image. But the replica knew it was a scam. After all, Riku had planned this meeting with his puppet. He controlled everything his puppet did.

It must have been a surprise then, when his puppet turned against the master and attacked.

To anyone else, it might have looked like an act of rebellion, but they both knew the truth. The replica was never supposed to exist, and so he had to be destroyed. They both knew it because they were the same person. Just with different memories.

Both remembered playing with Sora on their little island. Both knew they had accepted the darkness and joined the wrong side. But one was trying to make amends for their wrongdoings, while the other had helped the Dark fight the Light. Both had memories of a girl the other had not yet met. One of them would never meet that unknown person.

One of them thought they knew everything. The other only knew what he had been told, what had been planted inside his head. One was the master, and one was the puppet.

But what Riku didn't know, was that his puppet had planned it all. He had made it look like he planned to win and destroy his master, but it could never be. Puppets were nothing without their masters, after all. What Riku didn't expect was that the puppet was making his master cut the strings.

It was the perfect attack. Not stealthy, but unexpected.

Just because he knew he was going to lose didn't mean that he wasn't trying, though. No, he put everything he had into his attack. He wanted his master to know what it felt like to be controlled his whole life, however short it was. Before the attack, he had tried to express to his master how it felt through words, but the look of indifference on Riku's face showed it didn't work. So he decided the best way to show his hatred was through pain.

Behind every strike, blow, and swipe was the hidden desire to be free. Behind every parry, block, and jump was the acceptance that it could never be.

It was heartbreaking really, that his only desire was the one thing he could never obtain. But his heart had been destroyed and rebuilt so many times; he doubted it could break anymore. And whatever did could be repaired, and the memories erased. Puppets couldn't feel nostalgia, not when their masters wanted compliance. If puppets felt the need for something they couldn't have with their masters, they would break away and rebel. Just like he was doing.

But unlike other puppets, which so desperately thought they had a chance to win and be their own person, this replica knew he would die in the end. It was his destiny, and fate could not be changed. Prolonged, but not changed.

He didn't want his fate to change. Even if he could survive, he would never be able to live with himself. The fact that he was someone else's shadow made him hate himself. That, and the knowledge that everything he knew was a lie. Everything but the fact that he was not supposed to exist. That was the worst part.

How could someone tell you that you were never supposed to exist, even if it were true? Sometimes ignorance really was bliss.

But then again, if he had remained unknowing of this depressing fact, he would have never been able to free himself. It was a trade-off he was willing to make.

After he was defeated, he was surprised to see a look of sadness in Riku's eyes. But then he remembered that the master had planned this, and felt indifferent. The look didn't go away, though, as they continued to talk, and it made him almost pity his master. That emotion wasn't real, though. Riku was making him feel it.

One emotion he knew his master wasn't making him feel was curiosity. Where would his heart go when he died? Would it stay loyal to his master and go where his went? Riku obviously hoped so, as he told him it might happen. That was okay, though.

A puppet is nothing without a master to guide it, after all.

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><p><strong>Please Review<strong>


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